Entrepreneur profile: Guy Fischman, founder of cake business Baked by Guy

After numerous knock-backs and years of dusting himself off, UCL alumnus Guy Fischman has launched his own baking business. But even he couldn’t have predicted how much Baked by Guy would take off.

Guy Fischman (UCL Biomedical Science 2025) has loved baking cakes since he was a boy.

But his journey to turning his passion into an income-generating business hasn’t been a smooth one. It has, however, been incredibly successful.

Since launching Baked by Guy just over 12 months ago, Guy’s already making cakes for celebrities, supplying cafes, and even crafting a special Portico-inspired cake to celebrate UCL’s 200th anniversary.

He shares the ups and downs, and the support he’s had from UCL along the way, that’s resulted in him running a business he loves.

Following a childhood dream

“My mum introduced me to the world of baking - I used to bake with her from a young age. I then taught myself via YouTube, cookbooks and TV shows. But baking wasn’t the done thing for a boy growing up just outside Stoke on Trent. I got bullied for it. So I kept my baking a secret.

Fast forward a few years, and I set my sights on entering the Great British Bake Off, a programme I’d always dreamed of being on. The selection procedure was highly rigorous, with several rounds, and I made it through to the last auditions (final 20) but unfortunately didn’t get picked. I was told to apply again.

It was worth another try. So I applied another four times. Each time, I made it through to the final shortlist, but never to the programme itself.

Sometimes you have to let a dream go, and I realised trying to stay eligible for the show was getting in the way of building something of my own.

A chance meeting that took things to a whole new level

My first Baked by Guy customer came about by complete chance. When I was studying at UCL and working in a student bar, I got chatting to someone who invited me to a party. When I mentioned my business idea, they said ‘oh, it’s actually my birthday next week, do you fancy making me a cake?’

They didn’t want just any cake, though. They wanted a cake in the shape of the Art Hotel in Shoreditch, which ended up being 12 layers high.

It was a challenging cake to make - for my skills at the time - but I did it, and I’m glad I did, because that person turned out to be a founder of VIP relations, with lots of press and high profile friends, who also wanted me to make cakes for them.

Since then, I’ve designed bespoke cakes for several celebrities, including Hannah John- Kamen from the latest Marvel film. Alongside my bespoke commissions, I also make high-quality pastries for an independent café in Richmond. And other cafes have recently got in touch asking if I can do the same for them.

UCL - a space to grow and get support

Looking back, it’s been a whirlwind of a journey, from studying Biomedical Sciences at UCL to now baking cakes. I’ve been helped loads by being part of the Hatchery incubator programme at BaseKX, UCL’s dedicated entrepreneurship hub, run by UCL Innovation & Enterprise. Incidentally, they rejected my first application. But I was so used to all the Bake Off knock-backs, I just applied again and, second time round, I got a place.

It can be a lonely thing trying to get a business started, particularly at the beginning when you don’t really know what you’re doing. So I love having this space I can go to now, to be with other founders.

It’s also great having experts to talk stuff through with. For example, supermarkets are now getting in touch asking about stocking my pastries for an equity share, and I can talk to a mentor about that, and work out what I want to do next.

A business to be proud of

For now, I’m focusing on what feels good and trying to build this business from my heart. I was fortunate to win a prize at last year’s Hatchery pitch competition, which I’m now using to buy a better mixer and rent a commercial kitchen. That’ll allow me to make a lot more cakes. Eventually, I’d like to build a team of bakers I can train to make my designs, and I’d love to release my own cookbook.

One of the things I’m most proud of is building my Instagram to nearly 30,000 followers in a year. Also, being asked to make the 200th anniversary cake for UCL is an incredible honour, and will be one of my most challenging designs yet, as I’m recreating the Portico building out of cake.

For me, baking is a science. I like testing things out and trying different combinations. My recipe book looks very much like a lab book. Every cake I make has to look good, but it has to taste just as good, too. So I sometimes make 25 versions of the same cake, to get it just right.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I’d say ‘trust your gut, don’t let people put you down and embrace the failures because it becomes part of the success. But you’re gonna pick yourself back up and keep going. And I promise you’re going to feel so proud of yourself when you do.”

Follow Guy on Instagram where he shares his recipes and incredible cake designs.